It's already hit your pocketbook

He was often right, according to statistics gathered by Timothy Richards, agribusiness professor at Arizona State University.

Prices rose last year for these items on your kitchen table:

Mellon prices went up last year because of the California drought.

• Berries rose in price by about 80 cents per clamshell to $3.88

• Broccoli by 11 cents per pound to $1.89.

• Grapes by 64 cents a pound to $3.06

• Melons by 24 cents a pound to $1.23.

• Packaged salad by 23 cents a bag to $2.91.

• Peppers by 26 cents a pound to $2.39.

Uncertainty ahead

Though fruits and vegetable prices fell in February, overall prices are expected to rise this year, because of inflation, U.S. Department of Agriculture economist Annemarie Kuhns said.

Fresh fruit prices are projected to rise between 2.5% and 3.5%, and vegetables between 2% and 3%, close to historical average increases, Kuhns said.

Whether the California drought will affect food prices again this year is unknown, thanks to a strong dollar.

The greenback's strength allows producers to import crops that may be withering under the absence of West Coast rain or other misfortunes elsewhere in the nation, Kuhns said.

Fields of carrots are watered in late March 2015 in Kern County, California, which became the nation's No. 2 crop county for the first time in 2013.

Moreover, the drop in oil prices also eases the cost of transporting food from California to the other 49 states, she said.

What economists don't know yet is whether farmers will plant fewer crops because of the drought. Those decisions are now being made in the field and could boost supermarket prices, she said.

"The drought in California does have the potential to impact the price we pay for fresh fruit and fresh vegetables and dairy and fresh eggs we pay at the counter," Kuhns said. "We are not sure what the exact impact will be."

Part of a bigger disaster

The reality is there's a major drought throughout the West and Southwest.

Hay is delivered to feed a herd of cattle at Nathan Carver's ranch. Carver's family has worked the land for five generations outside Delano, in California's Central Valley. The worst drought in decades reduced the spread to a moonscape.

Straining under a drought that began in 2012, ranchers in Texas and Oklahoma last year saw smaller grazing pastures, paid more for feed, and experienced difficulties accessing water to cool their cattle.

So the cattlemen began culling their herds, Kuhns said.

This year's beef and veal prices should rise only by 6% at most, still higher than the 4.1% historical average, the feds project.

But beef prices offer an object lesson about the drought.

"There's other areas being affected," Kuhns said.

'Waiter! Water, please!'

It's called the Golden State for the gold rush of yore, but let's face it: the rest of the nation flocks to California for vacation because of another golden reason.

Its year-round sunshine.

So the next time you take a holiday in California, you'll find a few changes around here, thanks to the drought.

Inmates at a state prison in Vacaville, California, install a drought-tolerant garden in October. The garden will be watered using reclaimed water from the prison's kitchen. California is entering its fifth year of severe drought.

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Photos:California's historic drought

California State Assemblyman Devon Mathis speaks to members of the media after he helped secure a donation of 100,000 water bottles in September. More than 300 homes in Porterville, California, were out of running water because of dried-up wells.

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Photos:California's historic drought

Evacuee James Logan embraces his wife, Lisa, as they listen to an update about a wildfire in Clearlake Oakes, California, in August. Drought conditions have fueled numerous wildfires across the state.

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Photos:California's historic drought

Firefighters hike down a hill in Clearlake, California, as they mop up hot spots from the Rocky Fire in August.

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Photos:California's historic drought

A golfer in San Francisco hits a shot in July. After Gov. Jerry Brown ordered a statewide water-use reduction of 25%, golf courses have been struggling to keep their fairways and greens watered.

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Photos:California's historic drought

People picnic in July on the sandy bottom of Mirror Lake, which is normally covered with water at Yosemite National Park.

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Photos:California's historic drought

A man applies green paint to a brown lawn in Novato, California, in May.

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A close-up of the dry Guadalupe Creek, as seen in San Jose, California, in April.

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Workers install artificial grass at a home in Burlingame, California, in April.

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Motorists in Rancho Cordova, California, pass a sign in April reminding them to reduce water use.

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A woman in Sequoia National Park looks up at barren terrain typically populated by skiers in April.

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Photos:California's historic drought

California Gov. Jerry Brown, right, walks with Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program for the Department of Water Resources, near Echo Summit, California, in April. Gehrke said this was the first time since he has been conducting the survey that he found no snow at that location at that time of the year.

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People hike along a ridge overlooking the Griffith Observatory, where vegetation was drying out in Los Angeles in March 2015.

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In March 2015, a power boat sits on a Lake McClure parking lot that used to be underwater in La Grange, California.

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Low water is seen at the dam of Lake Success, near East Porterville, California, in February 2015.

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Photos:California's historic drought

This picture taken from a helicopter shows a drought-affected area near Los Altos Hills, California, in July 2014.

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A woman walks her dog in San Francisco in July 2014.

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A worker washes the sidewalk in front of a San Francisco hotel in July 2014.

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In June 2014, a pedestrian walks by a sign posted in front of the lawn at the California State Capitol in Sacramento.

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Residents photograph the burning ruins of their home, which was destroyed in a wildfire in Carlsbad, California, in May 2014.

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Volunteers pack bags of oatmeal at a San Francisco food bank in May 2014. The longstanding drought has contributed to an increase in food prices.

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Fingerling Chinook salmon are dumped into a holding pen as they are transferred from a truck into the Sacramento River in March 2014. Low water levels forced wildlife officials to truck more than 400,000 fish nearly 300 miles. They usually make the trip on their own.

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Photos:California's historic drought

A tractor plows a field in Firebaugh, California, in February 2014. Almond farmer Barry Baker had 1,000 acres -- 20% -- of his almond trees removed because he didn't have access to enough water to keep them alive.

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Plumbing technician Todd Snider installs an aerator at a home in Novato in February 2014. Californians have been installing water-saving devices in their homes to reduce consumption.

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A worker installs an artificial lawn in front of an apartment building in San Jose in January 2014.

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A car sits at the bottom of the Almaden Reservoir in San Jose in January 2014.

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Rocky shores are exposed by the low waters of Morris Reservoir, on the San Gabriel River near Azusa, California, in January 2014.

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During a news conference in San Francisco in January 2014, Gov. Jerry Brown holds a chart showing the statewide average precipitation. The governor declared a drought emergency for the state, saying it faced "perhaps the worst drought that California has ever seen since records (began) about 100 years ago."

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Tourists can also expect to hear a lot of requests at hotels about whether they want their linens and towels laundered daily. These requests are mandatory under the new regulations.

And they'll see fewer homes running decorative fountains.

Because much of the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada has alarmingly disappeared, many ski resorts shut down early this year, including at Lake Tahoe, and some are now building zip lines, mountain bike trails and wedding venues to keep tourists coming, the Sacramento Bee reported.

"If the drought continues through next winter and we do not conserve more, the consequences could be even more catastrophic than they already are," State Water Board Chair Felicia Marcus said in March.

A silver lining

But what about those yummy California wines, you ask?

Guess what.

They're only getting better -- because of the drought.

Yes, you read that right.

The 2014 wine grape harvest was "third in a string of great vintages this decade," the Wine Institute says.

A rolling hillside of pinot noir vineyards near Cotati, California.

"California vintners and growers across the state are grateful for another excellent vintage, despite an ongoing drought and earthquake that rocked south Napa in late August just as crush was getting underway," the institute said in a statement last year. "A mild winter and spring caused early bud break, although the overall length of the growing season was similar to past years."